Abstract
Farmers faced with increasingly limited access to freshwater for irrigation are utilizing dry farming techniques to produce fruit, vegetable, and grain crops. Defined as crop production during a dry season using little or no irrigation, dry farming relies on water stored in the soil and requires specialized soil management, healthy soil biology, and careful selection of crop varieties. We investigated these three factors in a dry-farmed tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum ) field trial with three indeterminate varieties (Early Girl, Momotaro, and Zapotec) and two determinate genotypes (76R and rmc ), the latter serving as a model system for studying the role of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. While five prior years of contrasting surface tillage practices changed soil properties, they did not affect marketable tomato yields or quality, nor affect plant physiology, including plant water use efficiency [intrinsic (WUE i ) and long-term (δ 13 C)], gas exchange, stem water potential (Ψ stem ), and leaf relative water content (RWC). Early Girl produced a greater number of fruits and fewer non-marketable fruits than Momotaro and Zapotec. Although AM fungi root colonization was very low for both wildtype mycorrhizal genotype 76R and its reduced mycorrhizal mutant rmc , it differed significantly depending on genotype and tillage treatment. 76R produced slightly greater marketable fruit, but physiological responses did not differ significantly between genotypes. This study does not provide field-based evidence that soil chemical and biological changes resulting from no-till influence dry-farmed tomato productivity, while genotype had a clear impact on tomato yield and quality. Field-scale tillage experiments may better capture soil physical changes that affect water availability, especially at depth, and should be examined.
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Claims 11
Claim · model-written summary
Contrasting prior surface tillage changed soil properties.
- Taxon
- tomatoes
Solanum lycopersicumt0 - Treatment
- contrasting surface tillage practicese0
- Outcome
- soil propertiese0
- Direction
- changede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“five prior years of contrasting surface tillage practices changed soil properties”
t0“tomatoes”
Claim · model-written summary
Contrasting prior tillage did not affect marketable tomato yield or quality.
- Taxon
- tomatoesSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- contrasting surface tillage practicese0
- Outcome
- marketable tomato yields or qualitye0
- Direction
- did not affecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“five prior years of contrasting surface tillage practices changed soil properties, they did not affect marketable tomato yields or quality”
t0“tomatoes”
Claim · model-written summary
Contrasting prior tillage did not affect tomato water status or gas exchange measures.
- Taxon
- tomatoesSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Treatment
- contrasting surface tillage practicese1
- Outcome
- plant water use efficiency [intrinsic (WUE i ) and long-term (δ 13 C)], gas exchange, stem water potential (Ψ stem ), and leaf relative water content (RWC)e0
- Direction
- nor affecte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“nor affect plant physiology, including plant water use efficiency [intrinsic (WUE i ) and long-term (δ 13 C)], gas exchange, stem water potential (Ψ stem ), and leaf relative water content (RWC)”
e1“five prior years of contrasting surface tillage practices”
t0“tomatoes”
Claim · model-written summary
Early Girl produced more fruits than Momotaro and Zapotec.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume1
- Material
- Early Girle0
- Outcome
- number of fruitse0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Comparator
- Momotaro and Zapotece0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Early Girl produced a greater number of fruits and fewer non-marketable fruits than Momotaro and Zapotec”
e1“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
Early Girl produced fewer non-marketable fruits than Momotaro and Zapotec.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume1
- Material
- Early Girle0
- Outcome
- non-marketable fruitse0
- Direction
- fewere0
- Comparator
- Momotaro and Zapotece0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Early Girl produced a greater number of fruits and fewer non-marketable fruits than Momotaro and Zapotec”
e1“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
AM fungal root colonization was very low in genotype 76R.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume1
- Material
- 76Re0
- Interactor
- AM fungiGlomeromycotae0symbiont
- Outcome
- AM fungi root colonizatione0
- Direction
- very lowe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AM fungi root colonization was very low for both wildtype mycorrhizal genotype 76R and its reduced mycorrhizal mutant rmc”
e1“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
AM fungal root colonization was very low in mutant rmc.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume1
- Material
- rmce0
- Interactor
- AM fungiGlomeromycotae0symbiont
- Outcome
- AM fungi root colonizatione0
- Direction
- very lowe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“AM fungi root colonization was very low for both wildtype mycorrhizal genotype 76R and its reduced mycorrhizal mutant rmc”
e1“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
AM fungal root colonization differed significantly by genotype and tillage.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume2
- Treatment
- tillage treatmente0
- Interactor
- AM fungiGlomeromycotae1symbiont
- Outcome
- AM fungi root colonizatione1
Not reportedDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“it differed significantly depending on genotype and tillage treatment”
e1“AM fungi root colonization was very low for both wildtype mycorrhizal genotype 76R and its reduced mycorrhizal mutant rmc”
e2“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
Genotype 76R produced slightly more marketable fruit than rmc.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume2
- Material
- 76Re0
- Outcome
- marketable fruite0
- Direction
- slightly greatere0
- Comparator
- rmce1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“76R produced slightly greater marketable fruit”
e1“genotype 76R and its reduced mycorrhizal mutant rmc”
e2“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
Physiological responses did not differ significantly between genotypes.
- Taxon
- tomatoSolanum lycopersicume1
- Outcome
- physiological responsese0
- Direction
- did not differe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“physiological responses did not differ significantly between genotypes”
e1“tomato ( Solanum lycopersicum )”
Claim · model-written summary
Field-scale tillage experiments should examine soil physical changes affecting water availability at depth.
- Taxon
- tomatoesSolanum lycopersicumt0
- Outcome
- Field-scale tillage experiments may better capture soil physical changes that affect water availability, especially at depth, and should be examinede0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Field-scale tillage experiments may better capture soil physical changes that affect water availability, especially at depth, and should be examined.”
t0“tomatoes”
The same questions in other papers
tillage · physiology: water · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results
2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
tillage · quality: postharvest · Solanum lycopersicum (tomato)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- no effect
1 paper more in this group
See all 5 papers →Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.